Oceanside Councilmember Suggests Carlsbad Boycott

At the November 19th Oceanside City Council meeting, Caltrans along with shopping mall giant, Westfield Group, appealed the Planning Commission’s decision to support Jefferson Enterprises proposal to build a 92-acre shopping plaza in Oceanside, near the corner of Foussat Road and Highway 76.

“We’ve given our citizens’ money to Carlsbad and Vista for long enough, it’s our turn for a piece of the pie," said Councilmember Jack Feller. "We’ve lost all these things to the city to the south. We need to stop the madness. The jealousy of who gets what tenants has to stop. I think that’s what this appeal is really about. This is costing the city a lot of money. I mean look at all the people here for a second bite at the apple. I was so angry when I saw this appeal filed that I’m literally thinking of leading a boycott of anything in Carlsbad, but mostly the Westfield Mall.”

The Pavilion, the 950,000 square foot shopping plaza proposed by Jefferson Enterprises, is expected to generate approximately $3.1 million in projected net revenue, even after the presumed “cannibalization” of local businesses in the surrounding vicinity.

Caltrans is also against the project. They say the impacts on traffic at the intersection of Rancho Del Oro Road and Highway 76 needs to be mitigated by the developer and not by Caltrans before the project gets approval. The representative for Caltrans said the funds simply are not there to address the expected increase of 35,000 vehicle trips per day the development is expected to bring.

Feller put the responsibility to address traffic issues back on Caltrans. "They’ve had to redo freeways all over Orange and LA County that were done with state and federal funds and not funded by the developers.”

Councilmember Esther Sanchez’ motion to deny the appeal brought by Westfield and Caltrans was seconded by Feller. The motion to deny the appeal passed 3 to 1, with Councilmember Rocky Chavez the sole dissenting vote. Councilmember Jerry Kern recused himself from the hearing due to owning properties near the site.

For more on the plans for Oceanside’s largest shopping center, or to find out more on Feller’s boycott of Carlsbad, go to ci.oceanside.ca.us.